New numbers out show that 734,000 Texans bought health insurance through the federal marketplace from last October to April 19, 2014, a report released by Health and Human Services shows.

Prior to March 1, an anemic 295,000 people had signed up, but in the final stretch of the Affordable Care Act first-year sign-up, another 439,000 obtained private insurance through the exchange.

Health care advocates applauded the new sign-up numbers and said the results are impressive, especially in the face of strong opposition from virtually every state Republican leader.

“Texas has made more progress on affordable health insurance in the last six months than in the last decade,” said Stacey Pogue, a health care analyst at the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities.

“We know that Texas could do much more,” she said. “Too many Texans are still one illness or one accident away from going bankrupt.”

The Obama Administration estimated earlier that about 758,500 Texans were eligible to sign-up though the federally-run exchange. Texas leaders declined to set up a Texas-run exchange.

An estimated 6 million people in Texas lacked health insurance – the highest rate in the nation. About 1-in-4 Texans lack protection, but not all of those people would be eligible to obtain insurance under the ACA. For instance, unauthorized immigrants are not ineligible, as are those who can purchase insurance though their workplace.

“These numbers confirm what we have already known for a while: Obamacare is working,” said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. “There’s just no other way to spin it, no matter how hard some people will try.”